Many people today are trying to be heard. They have opinions and thoughts especially concerning politics. They post on X, Facebook, and other social media platforms to get their message out. Others make literal posters and demonstrate on our nation’s streets – hoping that their actions will draw people’s attention to their message. No doubt some are heard in varying degrees, but others are not.
The two words of this article’s headline are found in Exodus 2:24. Those two words can be of great encouragement to us spiritually if we let them. Why? Because they remind us that we are not forgotten, we are not overlooked, and we are not praying in vain. Those two words give us assurance that God hears what we tell him – our praises, our petitions, our pains, and our pleas.
Recall the context for those two words (God heard) occurred during the time the Israelites were in slavery in Egypt. Life was hard, but they had God’s promises made to their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The people cried out to God in the pain of their circumstances. Were their prayers falling on deaf ears? No! If you go back to Exodus 2:24-25 you’ll find that God did four things: he heard, he remembered his covenant promise to Abraham, he looked on the Israelites’ situation and he was concerned about them.
Those are tremendous reminders of the character of God we pray to and worship. Those things should encourage us in our prayers. However, even though God heard the prayers of his people, we must remember that his response was on his schedule and not the people’s. If you read Exodus chapters 3-12, you’ll see that God had a plan to deliver his people, a plan for a deliverer in Moses, and you’ll also notice that life didn’t instantly get easier for the Israelites. Life got worse for them before it got better. Yet, at the right time – God’s time, things happened. When God’s timing arrived, it called for immediate action on the part of his people.
In our instant society, we often expect instant results. Sometimes that thinking carries over into our prayers to God. We want an instant response that lines up with our agenda. Although God hears, he has a timetable for his response that is far beyond our comprehension. We must humbly, not grumbly, submit to his plan and timing. Our trust is to be in God who knows what is best for us and for his glory.
Are we willing to do that?
